Awakened Dreamer Oracle Cards

These 55 cards/images are going to be purposed toward the greater soul intimacy and spontaneous awakening of all who wander this way….they will accompany my 40 Day Magic Challenge Program AND be used as a standalone tool for those seeking more wonder, magic and miracles in their lives. (Plus a portion of any profits will go to this children’s charity, The Tibetan Children’s Villages.)

By Lori Ann Lothian

Oracular Meaning: Be still and allow the reflection of what is true to be revealed.

Let’s face it, modern reality bomards us all with stimulation and distraction. Our high speed life makes it all too easy to forget to slow down to the still point within which is the antidote to all states of perpetual motion—whether mental, physical or emotional. Stillness is soul medicine, plain and simple. In stillness the joy, delight and gratitude for simply being, bubble up from deep within just like an underground spring that nourishes and refreshes.

If you draw this card today, you are being called to create time and space to do nothing and be everything. This does not have to be a sitting meditation. Yoga, a walk in the woods or dancing in you living room can be all pathways to the quiet heart, that eternal place that is truly home.

About this image: I took this photo one warm summer morning at the lake near my cottage. Every morning I would come down the hill in my car with my freshly home-brewed coffee in a mug, and I’d settle myself on this dock to soak in the stillness of the dawning day. I’ve never been a good meditator, but these lakeside visits at the start of each day were better than any lotus-posture, mantra chanting, mudra-making attempts at peace and bliss. This was instant heartfelt wonder and gratitude. Nature has always been my best teacher.

About this image: While in the early period of one-year of teaching in Thailand my partner and I made the trip to Siem Reap looking to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. The first day of our journey through the temples was one of the hottest days this body has ever experienced. Somehow the heat became a bit of a driving force, a companion, and we continued on over the massive grounds. Upon our ascent of one of the more memorable temples in my memory, I entered the upper chamber and to find the divine guardian and blessing giver waiting. As we met and she blessed me while tying a small rope around my wrist, I could help but feel we had communicated something most beautiful. Not wanting to leave her, I asked for her picture. Seeing it, I feel not alone. Remember the moment, I see her face so clearly, her gentle movements, and I know everything is going to be ok.

After my early dawn meditation, on the 6th of June 2013, I made my way down to the loch from my Vajra Sheilin “temple” on the hill above, which was a modest wooden cabin high up in the Scottish mountains, rented out by Buddhist monks, which I had chosen for a week long solitary retreat.

I arrived at the pebbled shore just as the sun was at the point on the horizon where its morning light ignited the mist and transformed it into transparent gold, gently laying claim to the water and bestowing significance to a lonely boat.Without even thinking my camera instinctively soaked up the scene with five, six shutter clicks and then retired resting on my heart.

But where was I? What was this mysterious place that had just risen from the dawn out of the darkness of night? Above all, what was “I”, that had become an eye feasting on such golden harvest and began to lay claim to the scenery around me? As this golden breath of heaven gently brushed the still water, a humble presence ushered me to be silent in my thoughts. How good it felt just to Be. I took my clues for Being from the boat which was floating in an emptiness which seemed to have no shores. Just as I was.

On a weekend adventure to Port Townsend, Washington with my then-husband I was captivated by many of the old buildings. I snapped this photo not realizing his face was in the frame. Afterward, I marvelled at how this became an accidental masterpiece. Life is like that often — when strive for success, I often miss the mark. When I surrender to greatness, it happens through me, magically and effortlessly.

Find Lori Ann at her blog, The Awakened Dreamer.

There is absolute joy when you leap for the thing being asked of you in the moment. Yet the call of your soul can feel daunting if not outright intimidating. Self-doubt and fear can shackle your willingness to take a chance.

The boys leaping in this picture may have perished only days later in a massive earthquake that hit their village. This image therefore is both a joyful motivator and a somber reminder that we are here for short time. Simply, if you don’t leap now you may miss this precious window of opportunity.

Drawing this card means it’s time to ask yourself: Is there is something in your life that you’ve always wanted to do? A place you’ve always wanted to visit? A project you’ve been yearning to start? If so, take the leap of faith. When you do, you will be supported in ways that delight and surprise you.

Photographer’s Comments

Just outside Kathmandu Nepal I was swindled by the khaki shirt boy. “Lady, Lady will you buy me a book so I can learn English?” The book cost me 20,000 Rupees. Moments after I turned my back to buy pottery from his Uncle, I saw the boy return the book and split the cost with the vendor. Khaki shirt boy aka “Robert aka Joe aka Pat” had told me there was no school that day, then we ran into the kids in school uniforms. He gave me the ‘I just got busted’ look. I taught them “One, Two, Three…Jump!” And they happily obliged, about 40 times.

This photo reminds me of impermanence and living joyfully in the moment. Days later, this ancient city all but disappeared in the 2015 Nepali earthquake.

Find Kimberly Karcher at xxx

By Kimberly Karcher

Sacred Symbology Chapel of Nosa Señora do Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar) Cathedral Santiago de Compostela, Spain—the end point of my 600 mile pilgrimage through France and Spain, The Way of St. James. When the headless body of St. James washed ashore the Iberian Penninsula in 44 AD it was covered in scallop shells. Now thousands carry this shell, identifying them as pilgrims along The Way. Metaphorically the grooves in the shell, which come together at a single point, represent the various routes pilgrims have traveled for nearly 2000 years, eventually arriving at a single destination: the tomb of St. James. The red cross is his sword. The colors, textures and architectural detail were cause to snap this photo. However for me this image symbolizes martyrdom, penance and religious dogma.

Find Kimberly at

If you’re at all human you’ve grown up in a world that asked you to apply filters liberally. These filters were most often filters on your mind, on your speech, and on your heart. And these filters usually formed through childhood messages of how you should or should not be in the world to be accepted.

In this card, we see a woman standing naked. She is willing to be photographed in this moment and later to allow this photo to be shown without touch up to make it look more culturally acceptable. Rather she allows her body to be seeing exactly as it is, with no shame.

Drawing this card indicates you are being asked to drop your filters. It’s time to let go of worrying how others see you and to allow yourself to see others through the filter of your heart. It’s a time of perceptual reconstruction that will allow your true self to express more freely in the world.

Model Comments:

No filters. Sometimes we need to reminded of what human bodies can look like with no filters. My sister took this picture of me with her phone camera four years ago, right before she got sick with what would become a terminal illness.

Hard to believe. It was one of the first full on pictures of myself that I ever saw. We took pictures of each other in and out of the water. It was so much fun. And I also remember how at first we rejected our images. It took me a while to be able to sit with my image and see my own beauty.To look at my curves, my folds, my dimples and all the ways that we dismiss and shame our bodies. I look at this picture now with such love and compassion for myself. It’s me through my sister’s lens. That lens is of course, love.

This is my favourite spot in world. This village has an energy that makes you fall in love with it. I wake up early motivated to go run by the ocean breathing fresh air and listening to the waves by my side. Everything here’s perfect. Abundant. Quiet. Natural. Beautiful. I get grounded and feel blessed and grateful. I try to take it all in, before the spell ends and I have to get back to the city.

As the name Blue Moon implies, magic can be expected on this night and indeed it did occur. While this beautiful moon was rising over Hague Lake on Cortes Island, I learned a skill that has served me well ever since. It was the night I learned magic is real and we all have the power to do it. We do not need to be a Shaman or a Witch. It was the night I learned I am Powerful.

She&He sat for a few years together whispering Secrets under our gorgeous Magnolia tree. She represented my fascination and connection with the Airy, playful, and mischievous Faerie realm from my youth. He represented my own growth and deepening into impermanence, awareness, and the Self which is ‘unbounded in time’.

Every day, I would take Pause, and I would Listen for what Secrets the AiryOne from Above would revel in bestowing to the GroundedOne from Below. What Wisdom would He from the Stillness of BeyondTime offer to Her, the Mage of Movement?

Daniela is an Agent of Synchronicity, Spiritual Director & Coach with HeartPath Institute at Yoga Farm. You can find her online at Heart Path. t

By Renee Baribeau

Everything is connected in the wind. Consciousness travels around and around the planet in a few short days. There is no separation. Wind is the invisible Shakti Force of Nature, that imbues everything with life. Wind was there at the beginning. The ancients one’s befriended these remarkable, powerful allies to explore the earth. Wind Magic can help you navigate change. This picture was taken at the Bhakti Fest, in Joshua Tree by Joyful Heart Photography.

In the middle of a Northern Indian mountain village with views of the Himalayas sits this prayer wheel. The area oft referred to as Little Lhasa, is an immaculate province filled with Tibetan refugees and it is the residence of His Holiness. I like to call it Dalai Lama Land. Despite the potential for a germaphobic freak out, I like to imagine all of those who have made this journey to see HH. The dreamers, the pragmatists, the optimists and the disheartened, the devout and the faithless. Somehow are all touching hands here, in those well worn imprints of thousands of finger tips with the intentions set forth in thousands of mantras—simple prayers going out to the world with every turn of the 108 squeaking wooden wheel. Sending spiritual blessings to throughout the Universe. Om Padi Hum.

You can find Kimberly at

By Kimberly Karcher

I gasped when I entered the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. I wept at her beauty and whispered, “I’ve been waiting half of my life to meet you.” My knees felt weak.

I first discovered this architectural masterpiece while studying slides in an architectural history class I took in college. It was love at first sight. This beautiful mosaic is part of a 13th century Deisis which includes Jesus, John the Baptist and Mother Mary, shown here. I have wondered since childhood why Mary is often depicted as sad. Mother of Christ, Mother of The Resurrected, Mother of The Everlasting Light. She is holding something back, she is stoic and almost emotionless, except for her eyes. How I wish she would let go of this Holy Restraint. The grief, the sorrow and despair that only a Mother knows.

You can find Kimbelry at

By Darcy Deming Fisher

I awoke very early on February 13, 2011, something was gnawing at me. I let the dogs out the back door and was literally pulled to walk around to the front of the house… this is what greeted me. The image in front of me was so powerful that I felt a quiver inside my very being. I can only compare the feeling to what a butterfly might feel as it completes its metamorphism from the caterpillar stage and finally flies off for the first time. Something was changing deep within me, it was powerful and profound.

I have tried every year since to ‘recapture’ this sunrise moment to no avail.

The Temporal (Dead Tree): Death has always fascinated me. In order to enjoy lasting inner peace, one must make friends with one’s own demise. Morbid and counter-intuitive for certain, but true nonetheless.

Photo was taken on September 8th 2013, along the bank of the Kitimat River in British Columbia, Canada. My husband was fishing with some friends in the river and I was hanging out on the bank. I found one and then two and then it was like one after another all within a 20ft radius. So magical. The message I took: “Love is in the Earth and all around you! Everywhere! You are surrounded by love! You are loved! You are love! ”

So random, I stopped to let my dog out for a pee on the drive home to Kitimat from Terrace BC and I found this leaf and many like it in a little pull out along the highway. It was so beautiful and each leaf had its own little design. Each one the work of a caterpillar and unique. I felt so blessed and grateful to witness it. Reminded me of the unique paths we each walk. Was taken May 25 2016

This photo was taken at Rathtrevor Provincial Park outside Parksville. It is a great representation of living life after the honeymoon of awakening is over. With the storm clouds of suffering behind you, you walk in the in between world of the material and the absolute, belonging to both and neither at the same time, but always in the light.

You can find Oje at.

By Jennifer Mellof

At a local lake near Belcarra with girlfriends, on a beautiful hot summer day, I saw this guy on the water not moving. Its wings were stuck to the water. I thought this odd, not sure if it was dead? We were on a cement dock that just happened to have a random stick on it long enough to reach him/her to lift out of the water. I leaned out over the dock and gently placed the stick underneath it to lift it. It grabbed onto to the stick! It was alive! It clenched onto the branch for dear life as I pulled the stick in and over the dock. I had it slowly crawl onto my finger. Its wings were saturated and heavy. In the sun, while resting on my finger over my lap, it’s wings began to dry. It never moved, but pooped on my finger! Eventually it started to flutter its wings. Once fully rested with wings dry, it flew away. I love Dragon Flies and have always been fascinated by them. Perhaps it would have been fine…eventually floating ashore or to something by the current or wind… but how could I not try and rescue it?

San Francisco for a wedding. After sightseeing during the day ended the evening with food, wine and conversation. On the walk back to the hotel came across this stunning mural picture. The strength and mystery captured in her visage – stunning. The wedding the next day had lots of Burning Man people so was wonderfully eclectic with great energy and wonderful music/dancing. Memorable adventure.

Circle of time and lasts. In the foreground a 100yr old barn that though creaky is still standing strong. In the background the Rocky Mountains. Also wearing down at a rate we can’t perceive. Down the road my 93 yr and 86yr timeless parents live. Their time to return to the circle of fire, within which all things are born and fed, and to which all things return, is inching closer. Each visit a potential last. Like the Barn and the Mountains, indomitable.

This picture was taken while on vacation on the enchanted Salt Spring Island of British Columbia. This particular spot was a secluded cabin on the top of a hill surrounded by nature. The only sounds were the roosters crowing and goats neighing below.
It was incredibly peaceful…..a truly magical place for self-reflection and calling the soul back home.

It was one of those days where my heart felt so full, so complete. There we were, my son and I, on a quiet and remote beach. The only ones there, in fact. It was a perfect summer day- clear blue skies, warm bright sun, beautiful soft sand. I watched as my sweet little guy went searching for sea stars. He found several in no time at all, pure excitement and joy as he lined up his collection in the water. “Mama,” he said, “I want you to take a picture of every sea star.” And I happily obliged as he proudly held each precious one up to me. Innocence, beauty, and love all held in his little hands.

You can find Anna at

By Phil Appleby

Late Oct 2013, at Bawnboy in Co Cavan Ireland it struck me that even when something is dying it can still be beautiful. And then it struck me again. Why do we oft times get impatient for a plant to blossom, reach its pinnacle? That’s only part of the process. Isn’t just as beautiful and wondrous when its just a bud? When its past its peak and fading too? All change requires adjustment. Sure the leaf isn’t as vibrant as it was in mid-summer and the fruit maybe long gone but now it offers it beauty in a whole new way. Autumn is my favourite season for that very reason. And sure, won’t they be back in the Spring?

Life presents us with many choices, it is our task to choose wisely. When we cast the rod of intention into the waters of potentiality, sometimes what we retrieve is not what is truly for us. This is where the divine function of discernment is most useful. Sit quietly, in stillness, and discern: Is this opportunity or situation or relationship that has tugged on my fishing line of personal desire, truly the highest expression of divine inspiration? Does it bring more light to myself and the world? If the answer is yes, then you have fished true. It’s now time to feed the world with your bounty. If the answer is no, let this situation go lightly, toss it back into the waters of possibility, knowing that it will feed another soul for whom it is destined.

By Thea Beckering

Fishing along the Chester River with the setting sun as a backdrop is always a wonderful time here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Reflections from the sky on the river are warm — this summer evening. Life is simple for Aidan, enjoying the anticipation of a catfish hooking onto his line.

You can find Thea on Facebook.

By Ruth Muthoni Wainaina

It was winter 2012, my daughter was a few months old and I met some friends in the countryside one misty morning. The air was still with that certain kind of quiet you only get in winter, and I was instantly at peace. Spending time in nature has always been restorative for me, and this photo reminds me of how precious those walks were both for me and for my connection with my daughter.

By Pia Jarvinin

A silent scene of explosive expansion. Under the frosty surface life is forever present, flowing through in perfect order to all directions. This frozen beauty in slow motion stopped me on my tracks. The almost inaudible cracks of the frozen trees spoke the truth.

You can find Pia at her site, Healing Mandala.

By Marie Fishman

I took this photo a few days ago during our move into this condo. From the moment we decided to lease this particular unit, I knew that I would create this room to be a place for Satsang, or “gatherings” as my teacher used to call them. It seemed important that this space feel sacred, cozy, safe. The view of the cityscape originally felt jarring compared to the view of nature I used to enjoy. But I quickly realized that there is room for both, time for both, a season for both. I love embracing the beauty and sounds of both nature and humanity. I love this sharing space. I also notice it asking for a plant!

I dislike being photographed. I’m not a stunning beauty as like so many women, I’m unduly harsh on myself after years of impossible media comparisons. I’m uncomfortable posing, probably because I’ve never much liked the images offered after this frequently awkward and disappointing experience. My photographs are mostly not as I imagine myself and certainly not how I see myself after some time spent genuinely making an effort. On this evening we were staying in any expensive city hotel for a very indulgent weekend getaway. I was relaxed and un-rushed, I was pottering as we women do putting on makeup, luxuriating in the time I had to do this, in a very beautiful bathroom with fabulous lighting and I had no idea this photo was being taken. I love it as it makes me look and feel beautiful and almost timeless. I see the actual me I see in quiet private moments and that I look beautiful makes me feel happy, confident and empowered. I imagine most would not guess I’m 58. As I learned from my beautiful mother in the weeks before her death, we will always feel the same age inside, it’s only the covering that wilts.

By the photographer, Brian Leonard: I am lucky enough to have a beautiful partner, I am lucky enough to have her allow me to capture her image at odd moments of her day, I am lucky enough that this image reflects her beauty. It seems I am very lucky and I am and so I urge you to look in the mirror and to go out and make your luck, it is possible. This image attests to that.

On the faded rose, I captured it when it was in full bloom, beautiful, silken and with a scent that intoxicated, it was wondrous, exquisite in it’s perfection and yet with a sense of fragility that had me almost sad. When it’s time of grace had passed I shot it once more to so as to remind myself that all beauty carries it’s own seeds of decay. So while it gave me great joy to see it in all it’s pomp it spoke to me more to see it when it’s best days were past, it had me think of the transient state of an outward beauty and how true beauty sustains. I am in the habit of sending my partner an image a week of some flower I come across in my travels, I feel that weeks contribution may have left her feeling somewhat perplexed!

This boy is a Cham Muslim, living in a village on the Mekong River, Vietnam. His village floods on an annual basis & so all the houses are built on stilts as is the access to the river. He was playing on this access way when he separated himself from his playmates to watch the Europeans descend upon his village. He had the air of innocence that people leading a simple life seem to embody. His youth and way of life appear to leave him untouched by the world as we know it. Perhaps my soul was calling out for something similar to come into my life which made the image all the more poignant. I hope that he is able to bring something of that simplicity to the viewer.

When the wild roses come to Wales, the intoxication of scent and colour is transporting. My wife had plucked a couple for the window ledge and walking by I saw this tiny creature poised on a petal, seemingly bowing gracefully, though no doubt trying to navigate an unknown, one piece at a time. My camera is small and rattley. It’s focus is variable, somewhat like myself. I set it to pray-mode and put it as close as I could to keep the little creature precise. I took several photos as it made it’s way across the yellow rose, at this point it had reached the edge of it’s known, and bowed again. The image represents for me the deep mystery of life, the dual promise and threat of the unknown. The promise of knowledge and the threat of annihilation. For how do we handle the edge? Do we smother it in maps of the known? Do we need to be in dread of the dark un-knowing? Despite our fears, doesn’t our every breath offer a brief window to look again at how we are seeing? To challenge our perceptions of self, other, the world, and thus participate in the unfolding of life, petal by petal? At a snail’s pace.

Shadows are inexorably connected to the light. Interestingly enough, in our mind, we tend to innocently divide the word and our experience of the world into one of either “light” or “shadows”. As we do this, we often end up embarking in an endless chase of the light, and at the same time inevitably in an outright rejection of the shadows. Also, as we do this, we tend to miss the fact that the light itself is the actual source of the shadow. Even more so, as we get engrossed and consumed in the handling of this apparently endless experience of polarization, we often end up missing the whole, the unique, the ongoing completeness and integrity of Being.

The integration of light and shadows is seemingly difficult because it actually requires us to look into the shadow, into the discomfort, into the doubt, into our experience of separation, of vulnerability, into our experience of lack. And as we are finally there, open and willing to do so, this process then behooves us to make peace with our fears. This doesn’t mean we end up validating and promoting suffering and confusion, yet it does mean that we are now willing to lovingly and compassionately address, receive, understand, and allow the suffering and confusion that is actually already there; the suffering and confusion that has already travelled, and still travels with us so far; the suffering and confusion that do not leave our bedside; the suffering and confusion that are true and inexorable companions of our own Light.

This photo was taken in the magical city of Santa Fe, New Mexico during a trip with four soulful women. We’d discovered this rooftop patio bar where, on a hot late day in the month of May, the best margaritas emerged. The contrast of colors caught my attention—sky blue, cloud white, lime green, hot red, and all at once I realized that tasting life was a much about where my attention went as it was about savoring the salty-lime-tequila concoction in front of me. Life is drenched with succulent moments. It takes conscious attention, free of the cluttered mind, to fully taste them.

I took this photo while wandering in Zagreb. It was a cold and foggy December evening. There were advent festivities going on in the main square below, (Trg Josip Ban Jelačić) but the upper city was a “ghost town.” I was delighted to have this old city to myself.

Zagreb. It’s like a FUNHOUSE. Around the next corner you may find a winding staircase or old, dark building with a surprise on the inside, like a high-end jewelry store, Italian lingerie shop, café, or bookstore. Or even a swanky laundromat or hip hostel with a jazz band. Back alleys are a delight, actually. I first walked up this hill you see in this photo, past St. Marks square. I then stumbled upon a bar. It was a very warm and inviting oasis in the middle of the “ghost town.”

I practiced my Croatian and invited myself into a 2 hour discussion about European and world politics. When I left, I wandered past the parliament building at St. Marks and back to the main square to catch my tram back to my apartment. I nodded to the guards at the Parliament building, who probably thought I was a nut. Dobra večer!

Where is the fierce dedication of the soul? What does it look like? A makeup artist came to paint my face. A gifted photographer came with every kind of lens. Both understood that it was my soul I was looking to capture. I felt it first through my eyes. Then my body moved, shifted form, and gave me what I was looking for – a glimpse of the something more that I am. (Makeup Artist: Jackie Shawn. Photographer: Jessica Earle.)

I experienced this Sacred moment on 3/1/17, 5:18pm, following a spiritual direction & Reiki session with a truly extraordinary client who was living into, for the first time, the UnReasonable Laughter&Tears of Love&Joy. Bliss for NoReason. Her experience is the ‘Why’ I do the work I do. It’s my joy to assist people in their discovering their own Radiant SelfWorth & to enter into a Sacred LoveAffair with the Self. This day marked my dream come true, in that I launched Day One of my most heartfelt project: 365 Days As the Light of Awareness. It’s a year-long daily curriculum that embodies all that I am here to offer and transmit, for many souls on Earth.

Driving away from my client session, I was steeped in gratitude for this day. This most precious day. I was literally revelling in the Light of Awareness, internally, when I looked up and saw the Light. The Sky. The Power of The Light. The Radiance of Love. I pulled over, took three photos, and went right to the ground. Love levelled me.

Daniela is an Agent of Synchronicity, Spiritual Director & Coach with HeartPath Institute at Yoga Farm. You can find her online at Heart Path.

By Forrest Kolb

I recall being in New Zealand with my father 2 years prior, just after the transition of my grandfather who was a hero to me and I was with alone during his transition in his living room. And in New Zealand handed over the keys to Life FULLY Concepts floated around, monk? Husband? Businessman? It didn’t matter no preference. Prepared. Fertilized

And came back from that trip and everything was laid out guided by the peace in my stomach. This picture to me is how the love that was realized, multiplied, reflected back, and at the same time became the guide, mirror and fire to burn away what still needed to burn. This moment captured was walking in the beauty of how this came together as I allowed for it to do. When Lucca (in the picture) was first born, in those first weeks, the mind tempted me.”These ‘blessings’ are pulling you away from your path.” Kind of laugh at that now but something deeper within knew better and trusted. That’s the riding high

There is a power in the elements. A power that culture and politics and systems and strategies can’t touch. A power that the smaller self cannot stand up to, but can attempt to stand with. A power that will not bend to smaller wishes, but will shape those who surrender. It is rare to find a person willing to harness this power, to accept the blows it brings to the self for the good of others. Every culture needs at least a few to survive the crushing nature of ordinary life. I found more of my elemental power here in Ireland than anywhere else. The wind offers to wash me away, but instead, I flow with her. She is mine and I am hers.

When I took this photo I had just returned from a 4 month trip around Europe. I had gained some weight from the amazing food I was surrounded with and was feeling kind of low on my self-body image. I saw a posting for a free Gloss Girl boudoir photo shoot, so they could use the images for marketing and it felt like a calling to me. I’ve never been one to sit in my slump. I get right back on the horse and face my fears. This was one of those times. Insecurity is all in your head. Sexuality is a beautiful way to express yourself raw and with all your vulnerabilities. Moving through the shoot I felt, a little awkward, but there is that moment when you lose inhibitions and you’re just there living in that moment. That happened to me. The best part was seeing the images after! Talk about erasing any sort of negative image I had towards my body. It was art. I couldn’t believe it was me. I fell in love with my body and my curves and I felt whole expressing my sexuality again.

You can find Vanessa at her website Bad Ass Creative Media.

By Derrick Pawlowski, Photo by Michael Julian Berz

By Nicola Amadora

I spotted the herd in the distance, as I walked through the field of the last blooming wildflowers on a warm autumn day. I knew the horses might run once a human came close, but I trusted a kind of power they respond to differently. As I connected with my body and heart I tuned into the power, which flows through all of life. With a still mind and filled with love, I approached them stepping softly upon the earth.

My friend followed quietly, ready with her camera. Would they gallop off? All the horses lifted their heads, looked at me and then continued grazing peacefully, a sigh, I am no threat to them. And then suddenly Magic, the white Arabian leader came up to me. He snorted, circled me, checking me out. His fur glistened in the sun, and I could feel a pulsing, a deeper power rising, creating a magical and irresistible bond between us. I touched him, and then we played. Wildly and unrestrained. What a precious moment, when the divine moves and unites us in love. We can allow this divine power to live us and miracles will happen—just like this one.

The photo was taken on July 20th 2016 at 7:20pm the sunflower was growing at our cottage in our veggie garden at Lakelse Lake. I planted it as I love how big and bold and beautiful sunflowers are and how they turn and follow the sun. They also remind me of Austria (my Dad is Austrian). They make me happy whenever I see them, and in Austria I would see fields of them. In many ways the photo (especially this version of it) speaks to me of me – big, bold, beautiful, and looking to the light.

You can find Erika Bliss online at

Photographer’s Comment

I read once that a double rainbow symbolizes transformation in life. The first rainbow represents the material and the upper the spiritual. Last summer I was on my way to my friend’s ranch in Cariboo Country in the pouring rain. There was thunder and lightning and the sky was dark shades of gray. A few minutes after I arrived the sky began to lighten and then a beautiful double rainbow appeared. Seeing the transformation from the thunder storm to the double rainbow I was simply wonder struck.

This photograph was taken at a beach in French Creek, Vancouver Island at the end of a day I was feeling pretty desolate about myself and my life. I would often walk down to the beach to find little big treasures the tides would leave behind to be discovered. At first glance there was nothing to be seen that March day but sand and seaweed, until a bright whiteness caught my eye. The sun was going down and I started circling the white feather, observing the changing shadows and bright spots the different angles would reveal until it hit me: Life and myself are just like that white little feather resting openly in the sand, with a myriad of precious different angles to be captured if for an instant. Each aspect a hidden marvel, each perspective carrying a message pointing to a soft spot of liberation within ourselves. Even in the midst of despair the doorway to inner tenderness and innocence can be found. Life is indeed a dream, designed to gently wake us up.

I watched the genesis and formation of what I called the SevenSisters of the Lake evolve over 7 days on the edge of Cayuga Lake. I Listened within for permission to photograph them, and here on the 7th day, I received their invitation. They were hauntingly beautiful in person, as I was in SacredAwe feeling the Vastness of the celebration of birth from the waters, as well as the feeling of deep Longing to return to the Source, the One. This scene pierced me instantaneously, and remains vivid in the Eye of my Heart, presently. Never have I felt such personal honor to be in the presence of this variety of an emanation of Love.

Daniela Hess is an Agent of Synchronicity, Spiritual Director & Coach with HeartPath Institute at Yoga Farm. You can find her online at Heart Path.